FEB 05 Dive Reports

[pasley]

Date: 06 Feb 05
Dive Location: Long Point (Old Marine Land) Palos Verde
Time: 10:06 AM
Bottom Time: 83:30 minutes
Max Depth: 45 FSW Average depth 31 FSW
Vis: 11-17.2 feet
Wave height: 2-3 ft
Temp at depth: 54 SUUNTO degrees.
Surface Temp: 59 Suunto degrees
Tide information: High Tide 06:39 PST6.49 ft Low Tide 06:46AM 2:04 PM -1.63 ft
Comments: Dive Team, Christian (headhunter), Claudette (HBdivegirl), Carlos and myself (Pasley). Jim, who planned today’s dive and was kind enough to invite the rest of us was absent having experienced alarm problems. So I put on my cold wetsuit still dame from the diving here the day before when visibility was 20-25 feet and there was almost no wave action.

What a difference a day makes. Waves were in the 2 foot range, but there was no lull between sets, just a constant barrage of waves. The swell was coming in head onto the point. We decided to make the easier entry and entered off the pebble beach due to the surf and lack of lulls between the sets. Surface swim out to the point in lots of surface chop with occasional large swells rolling through. About ½ way there Christian noticed he had forgotten his weights. So he turned around and swam back to shore to await the arrival of Jim McCabe and the next dive.

I then signaled Carlos and Claudette that I would be joining them and caught up with them in short order. We continued on to the point and dropped down into about 24 feet of greenish water with visibility in the 11 foot range according to the sonar carried by Carlos. We had a very pleasant and very long dive. We got buzzed by a lone sea lion who did not stick around very long. Visibility improved in the more shallow water closer to the pebble beach. We carefully explored the pinnacles and slowly made our way back in underwater enjoying a day in the ocean long dry spell. When we got into the shallows nearer to the pebble beach visibility improved to 17.2 feet. Had a nice but cold dive and went home after one. I surfaced right opposite our entry point, and we made a nice graceful exit. Met on shore by Jim McCabe and his family. All in all a great day, but I decided to call it a day after one dive.

 

[Lexy]

Date: Sunday, 2/6/05
Dive Location: Shaw's Cove, Laguna Beach
Time: 8:30 AM PST
Bottom Time: 31 minutes
Max Depth: 31'
Vis: 5' - 8'
Wave height: 2' - 3', lots o' chop & swells, 3'-4' surge
Temp at depth: 59 degrees
Surface Temp: 62 degrees
Tide information: HT 6:48 AM, LT 1:30 PM
Comments: Met up with my dive buddy Colby (not on the board) and assessed the conditions at Shaw's. The Lake Laguna was no where to be found - an agressively gusty onshore breeze was throwing out white caps and lots of chop.

We dropped down in about 20 feet of water, finding ourselves too far south of the reef. Actually, it was just nice to get the heck off the surface because of the large swells rolling over and chop. Cruising along the bottom we saw a whole fleet of sand dollars! (A new sea life creature viewing for me!! YEAH!!) and a C-O Turbot scurted off as we mingled along the sandy bottom.

We finally made it to the reef, finding an interesting field of mussels and mussel shells - huge shells! We were promptly greeted by a lone Garabaldi and a Kelp Bass (who froze, rather than swimming off). A Senorita cruised by and the fish life was relatively hidden in the viz.

The surf had picked up and upon exit the waves wanted to battle. Almost lost my fins - but alias the the dive gods only ended up with my mask! Ha Ha! (I honestly hated my mask and was looking for an excuse to upgrade.) Got the usual washing-machine toss around in the surf. All in all - it was nice to get wet but nothing to write home about.

 

[mccabejc]

Date: 02/06/2005
Dive Location: MarineLand, Pebble Beach
Time: 1:03 PM
Bottom Time: 41:50 minutes
Max Depth: 52 ft.
Vis: 15-20 ft.
Wave height: 1-2 ft.
Temp at depth: 59
Surface Temp: 63 air, 59 water
Tide information: -2.0 ft

Y’know they don’t make alarm clocks like they used to. I roll over and look at my alarm clock and it says 6 am. Seconds later I look and it says 8:15 am. Need to get that fixed….

Anyway, I gathered the crew and we headed down to Marineland. Got there just before Pasley, HBDiveGirl and DiveCalifornia were exiting, looking like frozen popsicles. The general consensus was that the viz was significantly less than yesterday (somewhere around 10 ft.), and it was pretty cold down there. But it was nice and sunny above. I noticed when I did a quick recon that there seemed to be a plume of murky water from Pebble Beach heading about 100 yards West towards the point, and when we left around 4pm that plume had grown and reached all the way from Long Point to Pebble Beach. The entry at Long Point looked a bit too surgy, with a lot of wind induced choppiness, and the tide was going very low (- 2ft at 2pm), and I was feeling pretty lazy, so I convinced Christian to do an easy one off the Pebble Beach. Well, if you can call a Marineland dive easy... Some had mentioned a reef at around 40-45 ft. straight out from the beach, so we decided to give it a try. Plus, it was past the plume of brown water, so it had potential. After some coaxing and some lunch I finally got geared up, and we headed down to the beach. Christian showed me the beach entry on the East side of the beach, and after climbing over the rocks we had some nice sand to stand on to get ready for our entry. Had to fight our way thru a field of kelp just off shore, and Christian taught me the "kelp backstroke". Worked real well. We then kicked out to around 30 ft. and dropped down. Viz was better than we expected, around 15-20 ft., and we proceeded to head South (away from shore) along a lifeless sand bottom looking for the reef. After almost 10 minutes we got to 50 ft., and still hadn’t found it, so I suggested we make a right turn and head West towards Long Point to look for it. After a few minutes, Christian pulled out his depth finder, and in a stroke of brilliance started pinging ahead of us until he got a reading of some structure about 30 ft. ahead. So we headed in that direction, and suddenly appeared to be what looked like a floating dock, a tubular metal structure with truck tires hanging around it probably 40-50 ft. long, and maybe 8-10 ft. high. Pretty cool. My first wreck dive I guess. I’m convinced that this is an undiscovered treasure, so henceforth it shall be called Headhunter Reef. A bunch of fishes and stuff were hanging around. After a loop around the dock we decided to head back towards shore. We swam over some more barren sand bottom the rest of the way until we came to the point at the East side of Pebble Beach, explored a bit, then surfaced in the 1 ft. viz shallows. During our short swim back to shore we encountered the kelp field, and while wrestling with the kelp monster Myrna shouted from shore, pointing out three jagged wooden posts, exposed by the very low tide, sticking up right where the waves were breaking and where divers enter and exit. Very dangerous. So we moved a bit East and climbed out. Great dive and dive buddy, the finest Surface Support Team in the business , a beautiful day, good viz, and my first wreck. Pretty cool.

After the dive we drove around the Trump Golf Course, then stopped by the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Great place to work on your fish identification. The kids loved it.

Attached are a couple of photos; the first of Pebble Beach (note the brown water), the second of the entry spot at Long Point.

 

[hermosadive]

After a few minutes, Christian pulled out his depth finder, and in a stroke of brilliance started pinging in ahead of us until he got a reading of some structure about 30 ft. ahead. So we headed in that direction, and suddenly appeared to be what looked like a floating dock, a tubular metal structure with truck tires hanging around it probably 40-50 ft. long, and maybe 8-10 ft. high. Pretty cool. My first wreck dive I guess. I’m convinced that this is an undiscovered treasure, so henceforth it shall be called Headhunter Reef..

Jim,

The reef you were looking for can be easly found by following a 120 degree heading off the end of the rocky point that makes up the left side of the cove. You'll hit in after a minute or two of swiming over the sand in around 35'. Make note of it, its worth a 2nd try on a clear day. I've never seen the truck structure you mentioned. I'll have to go looking next time.

 

[JDog]

2-5-05
Dive Park, The Valiant, Catalina Island
in at 11:29
58min bottom time
100ft max depth
45ft vis
wave height not a factor
dive temp 59f
surface temp 65-70ish
Low tide

Dove with Jetfixer, Ann Marie, DrJet
This was my first dive on the Valiant, and it was a good one. With all the 5ft vis on the mainland, having 40ft on the wreck was great. Saw plenty of Blacksmith's on this dive had to be hundreads of them. We did not uncover the lost treasure, but we did have a great dive. I will remember to take my snorkle for the surface swim out to bouy 45 the next time.

2-5-05
Dive Park, Catalina
in at 14:20
71 minute bottom time
75ft max depth
vis 15ft-40ft
No waves really
59 degree water
mid 60's on surface
Low tide but coming up

Dove with Jetfixer, DrJet, SnakeDr, Ann Marie and "What's her Name" (Brittney)- Daves buddy. We just cruzed the dive park and found the newest sailboat wreck at the dive park, I don't know if it has a name but it was in 15ft of water right off of the end of the jetty. Vis was not all that great because there were several dive classes being held today, it did get a whole lot nicer at the south end of the park. I even think we saw Oscar the sheephead out and about.
After the dives we enjoyed a few Pacifico's before our boat ride back. I couldn't have asked for a better day in the middle of a Southern California Winter.

 

[Dive California]

Date: 02/06/2005...
Christian pulled out his depth finder, and in a stroke of brilliance ...

Looks like Christian remembered the weights....yeah! :jump013: :yelclap:

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Date: 02/06/2005
Dive Location: MarineLand, Pebble Beach
...Christian pulled out his depth finder, ....

And I thought he was just happy to see us .

It was a really fun day! Many thanks to you all: Melvin, Carlos, Christian, Jim, Myrna and team, for making it possible and surprising...I loved it!!! :banana:

Claudette
(aka 'Colette' for Pasley (hope it's a good association??), aka HBDiveGirl, aka 'GOTA DIV',...Call me what you want, just don't call me late for diving!)

 

[xSandman3]

Date: 2/6/05
Dive Location: Avalon Dive Park
Time: 10:00AM
Bottom Time: 40
Max Depth: 37
Vis: 30-40'
Wave height: 0
Temp at depth: 54
Surface Temp: 60 +/-
Tide information: low...had to climb over rocks to get to the stairs
Comments:
This was my first dive with my new (to me) camcorder. Spent most of the dive getting used to having weight in front of me pulling me down, finally got a handle on it. Took some cool video of the kelp laying almost horizontal in the current, lots of fish, a few rocks, and the bottom when I set it down for a minute to adjust my bc. Other than the climbing over the rocks thing, it was a smashing success for a first attempt at underwater videography...can't wait 'til Roatan and Belize next month!

 

[pasley]

And I thought he was just happy to see us .

It was a really fun day! Many thanks to you all: Melvin, Carlos, Christian, Jim, Myrna and team, for making it possible and surprising...I loved it!!! :banana:

Claudette
(aka 'Colette' for Pasley (hope it's a good association??), aka HBDiveGirl, aka 'GOTA DIV',...Call me what you want, just don't call me late for diving!)

Claudette
My apploigies. Brain dead after the dive. And yes it is a very fond association. But from before my wife of 30+ years.

 

[jetfixer]

"What's her Name" (Brittney)- Daves buddy..

She's lil'scubachick! Our newest "Jr." diver. Welcome to the board and to the amazing world of exploring our oceans. Great job this weekend at Catalina, your first cold water dive since being certified in 80+ degree water in December. :dazzler1: